 Too
many unpleasant surprises in running your finances?
Do you like solving
an endless flow of problems threatening the very existence of
your business?
Do you enthusiastically welcome
a constant flow of dire straights endangering the course you've
set for your company, its activities and profits?
Since you're reading this article,
I will assume that you don't particularly ENJOY getting all those
financial problems to solve ON TOP of all those other challenges
that running a business provides.
Yet, the reality most business
owners have to face includes that worrisome, nagging fear of
some unpleasant surprise popping up. Most of us actually mentally
scan the activity and all its parts and pieces "looking
for trouble."
While, as a business owner
and/or executive, you are definitely among the top percentiles
in your ability to SOLVE problems, there is a limit to how
many problems any human being can solve.
And if you could reach a level
wherein you would KNOW - beyond any doubt - that you wouldn't
HAVE to keep "scanning"... wouldn't that alone free
SO much time and energy for other tasks - to say nothing
of increasing your spirits?
Why financial
problems have such a bad name
 We
tend to think that if one has financial problems, it would mean
one is, in one way or another, inadequate or unskilful in running
his own business.
Of course that's not true.
Nevertheless, it is quite usual to experience problems as something
bad. Supposedly one wouldn't HAVE problems if one knew his business...
Not so. The only way not to
have ANY problems is to DO NOTHING AT ALL.
Those that do, get problems,
too. But all in all, they're better off, don't you think?
These feelings are very human
and personal.
The fact that your activity
HELPS so many people to earn their daily bread, the actuality
that you SOLVE so infinitely many MORE problems correctly...
none of it will help much when these feelings take charge.
But understanding the ANATOMY
of financial problems will definitely give some consolation.
It will EXPLAIN how financial
problems can become to be so overwhelming.
And it will also open a door
to AVOIDING such daunting problems!
How financial
problems come to be
As you know, problems are BORN
very, very small, being nothing but unfavourable indications
at first.
Any problem develops this way.
It has its start somewhere and it is SO microscopic
that it is practically invisible.
At that time, nothing
seems to have changed.
There's naught to attract our
attention to the newborn problem simply because it is really
only a SLIGHT change in the development of some area of our finances.
It isn't yet visible in the
activity itself. It's just a number, really, in the monthly accounts.
The CAUSE that starts the problem
could be just about ANYTHING.
It could be that the time it
takes for customers to pay you lengthens ONE DAY on the average.
Or that the overhead expenses increase 0.5 percent during three
months. A slight change in sales...
It could be anything. And at
the beginning, it will be an extremely SMALL change in
some financial key figure.
The important thing is that
the CAUSE of a problem is different from the EFFECTS that it
results.
For instance, the problem of
"not enough money" may be caused by paying high interests,
which may be caused by customers paying slower and slower...
which will be caused by something else.
Solving "not enough money"
won't be easy unless you find the ACTUAL cause of the problem.
By the time "not enough
money" becomes known and felt, the actual problem has developed
a long time.
The effects and consequences
of the actual problem can go undetected for such a long time
simply because they're so SMALL. They also SPREAD into many parts
of the business activity.
It takes AGES before any of
these consequences become BIG ENOUGH to attract attention. By
then, it has become a major nuisance draining a lot of money
and wasting a lot of your time and energy.
Allowed to grow this far, the
problem is hard to solve. It is also very difficult to track
it back to the REAL CAUSE of it.
Once your business activity
has produced a loss for a while, big and costly solutions become
necessary. Acquiring more working capital FAST is always expensive,
no matter whether you take out a loan or take on an investor.
Yet it starts so very small.
In fact so small that one could
say that at birth, a financial problem isn't a PROBLEM at all.
It is simply a very small
departure from the wanted development of some Key Financial Figure.
Instead of continuing on the intended, favourable course, it
took a turn for the worse.
But at this time, the change
is extremely small. It's microscopic, really. Impossible
to notice with the bare eye - like one stalk of grass going bad
in a one-acre lawn.
Handling the problem within
days after its birth is the easiest and fastest solution available,
of course.
It usually requires nothing
more than a small adjustment.
It could be five minutes or
it could be five hours. Whatever it is, one thing is for certain:
Handling the problem will
always be easier the earlier it is detected.
But it isn't commonly known
HOW HUGE the difference can be...
The difference
that early handling of financial problems can make
 I'm
sure you've noticed how business owners don't usually like waiting
for the results of yearly accounts.
There's a reason for that.
Usually, it has to do with receiving TOO LITTLE INFORMATION
DURING THE FISCAL YEAR.
Without a clear picture month-to-month
on how the fiscal year is developing, awaiting for the final
calculation will always encompass at least some dread for the
business owner.
Finding out about problems
AFTER the fiscal year has already ended leaves precious little
you can DO to change those figures.
And - God forbid - if the problem
hasn't YET GROWN into sufficient size to be noticed from
the bottom line of THAT year's accounts, it will have a chance
to develop into a roaring MONSTER until it will be so
huge that it threatens the very existence of the business activity!
Yet, all this could be
EASILY avoided.
It is only IF an unfavourable
trend can grow undetected and spread its effects unnoticed that
it'll become a raging monster.
THOSE we all hate to face.
But you SHOULD have a possibility
to choose WHEN you tackle the problem. GIVEN that choice, most
business owners will gladly handle it small rather than allow
it to grow into a nine-headed monster.
The nuisance with many problems
is that their BEGINNING is usually impossible to detect from
the visible day-to-day business activity.
Unfavourable financial developments
take AGES to become really PHYSICALLY VISIBLE with the bare eye
at your place of business.
The bad news is that when you
CAN see the unwanted EFFECTS of it, it has already grown far
too long.
If a problem is noticeable
only by the symptoms it causes, if it is recognized only
when it is already severely hampering the business activity,
its solution will require quite a bit of time, effort and money.
Found at that late point, the
problem will also have already COST you a pretty penny. After
all, ANY financial problem spells "not earning as much as
I could" or "paying more than I should."
It's money going the wrong
way, in other words.
But what is not broadly recognised
is how infinitely HUGE the difference can be between detecting
and adjusting unfavourable financial developments EARLY as compared
to having to handle the destruction and havoc it wreaks when
allowed to worsen for months or even years.
The difference can be absolutely
MASSIVE. This is because most financial problems affect BOTH
the income AND the expenses of a company.
Lower income than what it could
be combined with higher cost than what it should be... the resulting
misery can be quite huge.
Of course, there's no way to
PROVE this conclusively to anyone. That would require running
two identical businesses for an identical period - running one
WITH an early-detection system to find and adjust unfavourable
financial developments... and the other without it.
The business that HAD this
early-warning system would never find out what it feels like
to have life-threatening catastrophes popping up without warning.
Its owner would never spend
sleepless nights worrying about the unknown future.
Those problems would never
really come to be - so the owner wouldn't even KNOW what he is
missing!
Obviously, any business owner
would already have some experience on financial problems. But
no doubt you can well picture how huge a difference this one
thing - having a system to detect problems at their inception
and adjust the trends immediately - would make in just a year.
Just imagine the difference
it could make if continued year after year!
It could be that this is the
single most effective ingredient in why some businesses prosper
more and more for every year that passes, whatever the economical
situation in the world.
And the good news is that you
can EASILY avoid all that unpleasantness, all those losses of
time and money - with the help of a simple Accounting service!
The intelligent
"financial intelligence" - using Accounting as your
early-warning system
Tell me - if you saw something
amiss in your office... would you fix it - or would you just
let it be?
If the coffee maker was left
on in the evening and you'd notice it... would you turn it off?
If you saw a tap dripping, would you do something or just let
it run?
Right - of course you would
fix it.
It's your company and you're
the most responsible person in there. You WANT things to go right,
you want the business activity to progress on the road you have
laid out for it and reach the goals you've set.
Financial planning works exactly
the same way as ANY "search and handle" activity in
your company.
Once you FIND the problem
and KNOW what causes it... you can fix it.
What makes financial planning
so apparently confusing is that what we "look at" is
all in a strange CODE of kinds. You can't see the spaces, machines,
people, or activities - you can only see numbers.
Those real activities are all
explained in these long series of numbers and figures. It is
a very theoretical code that takes a lot of learning and
experience to decipher.
There are other similar "codes"
in the world. Accounting isn't the only one.
Take music, for instance.
A composer can write his music
down into notes and then have musicians play out it exactly as
intended. These professionals of music KNOW what those notes
- stems, heads, hooks, and whatnots - MEAN. To them, music communicates
even in written form.
To us, it is a foreign language, refusing to depart its meaning. We
may know a LITTLE, we may be able to distinguish a FEW notes
and play them - but a piece of music orchestrated for a symphony
orchestra leaves all but professionals baffled.
It takes a professional to
READ the written notes and "translate" them into actual
music.
But once WE hear that music,
we CAN experience it.
Played, those alien little
dots on paper become something we can hear and feel. Now, it
communicates something to us.
And THAT'S who music is really
FOR - the huge numbers of people that form the AUDIENCE.
Computer programming languages
work the same way. For a top professional, a screen full of programming
code is legible. Knowing what the programme SHOULD do, he can
find the smallest problems and correct them fast and easy.
To us who aren't experts, it's
more or less incomprehensible. Trying to make sense of such gibberish
soon becomes disgustingly overwhelming.
My point is twofold.
For the first, I want to impress
upon you that the whole problem of finances is really only
in the READING of that code.
As it is NUMBERS and not some
totally strange code, it APPEARS understandable. And that's the
trouble with it. We keep on thinking it IS understandable.
Only it isn't, unless you fulfill
the SECOND point:
To really GET the information
that's embedded in those monthly accounts, one needs to be a
well-trained expert of Accounting.
Anything less than that level
of experience will inevitably put the majority of your attention
on the TECHNICAL aspects of it. How does this figure relate to
that? Why is this number here and not there? How come THIS is
the result of that?
If you've ever experienced
this feeling when trying to get deeper into the figures, you
know what I'm talking about.
It can be a very humbling experience
if one doesn't realise that analysing those figures is a highly
specialised SKILL that takes YEARS to learn.
Yet, all that you need
is someone to TRANSLATE that code for you.
You don't have to become an
Accounting Professional just to get that information - just like
you don't have to become a musician to enjoy music.
And let me assure you that
behind those numbers is a lot of vitally important and time-sensitive
information.
I've witnessed countless times
the huge amazement on the face of business owners when they realise
HOW MUCH those figures can actually TELL them.
It is safe to say that your
monthly accounts will always contain the information of what
will happen MONTHS or YEARS LATER in your company.
It's all there, in microscopic
form, pointing to a development WAY before it becomes visible
in the business activity itself!
It has absolutely nothing to
do with psychic powers or premonitions. It is a very scientific
way of predicting financial development for any area of your
business.
It's much more accurate than
the analysing those weather satellite photos. Financial developments
are much more stable - especially the bad ones - than weather.
Weather you can't change -
but any unfavourable financial development can be changed
quite easily...
...IF IT IS DETECTED
EARLY ENOUGH!
Your Accounting service should
include this type of early-warning & detection system
that monitors your financial figures on monthly basis AND reports
the findings in understandable English.
You shouldn't settle for
anything less in terms of Accounting service.
It's an intelligence service
of kinds. Your Accountant should be your radar or scout, finding
out what lies ahead and telling you about it BEFORE
you walk into it.
That's the only way to AVOID
a collision course with things you DON'T want to experience,
isn't it?
ANY activity that GOES somewhere
needs reliable information on what lies ahead. Don't agree to
having no radar to see that there aren't any barriers or dangers
awaiting on your set course.
So many business owners only
use Accounting as REARVIEW MIRRORS, looking only at what has
already happened.
History can be very educational
- but nothing can replace a good radar when you're steering your
ship toward your intended destination!
Accounting can be used for
this - but only if you demand to receive such service.
And why not?
Keeping accounts is something
every business has to do anyhow. It just so happens that those
figures can also be used to discover what lies ahead.
Once you KNOW, once the confusing
"code" has been deciphered for you and translated into
understandable English... you can take evasive action.
Making a minute change of course
is usually very simple, fast, and easy... IF you do it early
enough.
Huge, out-of-control evasive
actions with high-risk consequences become necessary ONLY when
a collision course has been CONTINUED long enough.
If you find out about it early
enough, if your Accountant takes the trouble of deciphering it
into something that doesn't require you to be a trained Accounting
Professional to understand it... THEN the handling becomes quite
simple.
In fact, it becomes just
as clear, plain, and obvious as turning off the coffee maker!
And then you CAN effectively
influence your finances without having to spend years in studying
higher mathematics and the theories of finance and Accounting.
Getting understandable
information on financial trends from your Accountant
 Your
Accounting service should include the monitoring of your Key
Financial Figures on monthly basis and an understandable ("deciphered")
reporting of the findings.
You should also receive an
analysis on how each of those figures affects OTHER areas of
your business.
You're an expert of your own
field and once you get the information from your Accountant in
a way that RELATES to your own expertise, you can then
act upon it.
Once that confusing code is
out of the way and you GET the information, you'd be surprised
how easy it can be.
A good Accountant will know
how to MAKE that information available so that it DOES relate
to your own expertise.
With that I mean that it is
HIS responsibility to GIVE that information the way that
actually conveys a full understanding for YOU so that you will
be able to DO what you want about it.
It's a lot faster to get your
Accountant to provide this service to you than to study mathematics,
finance and accounting for several years.
And the amazing thing is
that it needn't be at all expensive.
It isn't something reserved
for bigger companies only - it works with ANY size business -
and it is AFFORDABLE even for sole traders.
You're already paying
for the monthly accounts. All that information that's so VITAL
to avoiding problems IS THERE already.
So, why not get it all?
The difference can be positively
dramatic!
If you want to find out just
how much it would mean - and what type of information would make
your work easier - you're in luck.
Just now, we offer the Business
Owner's Profit Guide at a cost lower than the price of a Sunday
lunch... and some amazing benefits as a bonus!
CLICK
HERE to read the introduction of Business Owner's Profit Guide!
There's no obligation and you're
free to use the information to adjust the service your current
Accountant delivers!
Best wishes,
Robin Darch
Church Street, Tewkesbury
Gloucestershire GL20 5PA
Telephone: 01905 821200
Fax: 01905 821568
E-mail: robin@prtservices.co.uk
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